Or, in Straight Talk Lingo: FU, America!
peace,
st john

man, this just keeps getting better and better.

orange

If the McCain camp won't make Palin available to the media throughout this campaign, what does that say about how a McCain administration would govern? So much for transparency in government. Cheneyesque indeed.

this, of course, gets back to the flaw in palin's selection in the first place: she doesn't know the issues. at all.

now, those identifying as gop don't seem to care whether she knows the issues at all, but mccain was going to win those states anyhow; it's ohio, for example, that matters, not mccain's margin in alabama....

I guess we can't call this a "Rose Garden Strategy", perhaps a "Tundra Strategy"?

I'm sure they could do plenty of limited press availability speeches for her if they wanted. But, based on the convention speeches, she's more interesting than McCain. Maybe they don't want her to outshine the top of the ticket?

Given the number of reporters now in Alaska digging into her past, it might not actually be the best place to "hole up" right now...

If the Cheney years have taught us anything, hiding out in an "undisclosed location" is a vital part of the Vice President's role. So it's nice that she'll at least be qualified for that part of the job.

I'm picturing the "in Russia" training sequence from Rocky IV...

Also, no one considering voting for the May-December team cares if she "wins" or even "comes-close" in the debate - they just want to hear that folksy accent at the shopping mall, or see her picture (and a recipe) in Redbook, or learn how she still makes lunches for her kids... Adorable!

Palin endorses Obama's plan to tax oil giants.

I haven't seen this story mentioned elsewhere. "Palin And Obama Have Pushed Similar Plans To Raise Oil Taxes" by Richard Rubin at cqpolitics.com.

Here is the link.
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=145&docID=news-000002943975

Maybe someone can put together a diary and make the link work. This story should be getting more attention.

McCain seems to be gambling that he won't lose his original key base (the press) fast enough to lose the election while he makes a play for a new base (the radical right) via Palin.

We've been watching as he loses the punditry, including apparently Carney (following Klein, Kristoff et al). Do I dare hope that they actually do their jobs and call bull***t loud enough for the heartland to hear?

I'm also surprised they would take this path. Palin seems like she'd play well on TV (to the crazies) shooting from the hip, belittling the media, and so far no one is willing to call her bluff. I wonder what team McCain is afraid of.

According to Nicole Wallace of the McCain campaign, the American people don't care whether Sarah Palin can answer specific questions about foreign and domestic policy. According to Wallace -- in an appearance I did with her this morning on Joe Scarborough's show -- the American people will learn all they need to know (and all they deserve to know) from Palin's scripted speeches and choreographed appearances on the campaign trail and in campaign ads.

Whenever I hear a candidate use the phrase "the American people," I immediately turn on my bull detector (if Obama and Biden are smart, they'll come up with some other rhetorical phrase). When a political operative uses the phrase, I turn that detector up to full blast.

You shouldn't criticize John McCain for choosing an unqualified pseudo-celebrity for VP because he was a POW for 5 & 1/2 years over 30 years ago.

Ditto for his lies about Obama's positions, or his choice of Rove's campaign tactics, or his lack of knowledge about economics or world affairs. And of course none should be leveled for dumping his ex-wife, he's a POW, remember?

Further exemption from criticism will be issued as needed.

I like Carney's tone - McCain's free ride with the media seems to be over.

So the vp nominee really is like Cheney - in a hideaway, refusing to answer any pesky questions!

""Given the number of reporters now in Alaska digging into her past, it might not actually be the best place to "hole up" right now...""

Likely Alaska now has state troopers guarding libraries...security you know those public records maybe classified now. All moose trails are now national security secrets.

If she isn't out campaigning or doing press events and staying in Alaska then it shouldn't be too much trouble to be deposed for the Trooper Gate investigation, right?

Expectation setting. Make folks think that they're scared of her getting interviewed, then let her be interviewed in a friendly forum (ABC, Fox) and, wow, oh my god, she is capable of answering questions to some degree.

Let's get the focus back on McCain. He's the one who's hugged Bush, both metaphorically and physically, he's the one who's been in Washington 24 years, he's the top of the ticket.

So I guess none of you remember Fineman's sneers and smears directed at Al Gore -- helping to elect Bush in the first place. Fineman is a pig.

Palin is the only decent thing the McCain campaign's done and they're putting her on ice?

Considering the shit speech he gave, this is just dumb.

I figure two reasons:
1) Not ready (needs time to be coached)
2) McCain don't share the spotlight with nobody. As hinted in his speech, McCain sees himself as THE Celebrity and ain't gonna share the spotlight with Eskimo Pie. Like a Highlander, THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!

This really isn't a vote of confidence in Palin's readiness.

Or is it? Really, the scripted-appearances and controlled-audiences and hiding-out bit is something that has been the evolving Republican model of official leadership throughout the Bush Presidency. So, if voters want more of the same of what they've been getting in the executive branch since 2001, then this demonstrates that Sarah Palin is ready to give them exactly that.

Megalomania wrote: "Likely Alaska now has state troopers guarding libraries...security you know those public records maybe classified now."

Well, if I were Sarah Palin, I wouldn't count on Alaska's state troopers to watch my back.

Homer, Fri Sep 05, 2008 at 10:51:43 AM EST

More on Sarah Polin

Many Republicans, and others, have praised the decision by Governor Palin to carry her baby to term despite knowledge of its Down's Syndrome. And they have praised her pregnant unmarried 17 year-old daughter on her decision to have her baby.

Should not they also realize that, if Sarah Palin has her way, such decisions could not be made? The government will have already decided for the woman.

No wonder that one of my daughters has referred to Ms Palin as a "folksy feminine fascist".

Sarah Palin for VP

I wish that she were a liberal Democrat, so that I could root for her and vote for her. She is likeable. charming, and attractive enough to be referred to by some as McCain's "trophy vice".

But her political and social views are intolerable. In addition to her opposition to a woman's right to choose, she denies that humans cause the global warming that threatens Alaska's polar bears, supports the teaching in schools of creationism and abstinence-only sex education. And she wants oil drilling in the Anwr National Wildlife Refuge.

Early in Palin's mayoralty, she wanted to impose book banning on the town library and tried to fire the librarian who resisted. Now, that's scary.

McCain Picks Palin as VP Nominee

McCain did manage to step on the buzz from Obama's stirring closing ceremony speech. Palin-Biden seems a clear mismatch but perhaps not since she is such a charmer

Since Palin was a feisty and successful point guard, maybe she and Obama should go one-on-one.

homer www.altara.blogspot.com

You know, right about now it sure would be helpful for the Dems to have their own broadcast media infrastructure to launch attacks on her, saying if she's afraid to be interviewed by Charlie Gibson then how is she supposed to deal with Ahmadinejad, etc. etc.

Just sayin'

the American people will learn all they need to know (and all they deserve to know) from Palin's scripted speeches and choreographed appearances

...and after a statement like that, I know that McCain/Palin doesn't deserve my vote.

Let me get this straight: After days of whining that questioning Palin's readiness was "sexist," the McLame campaign just admitted that Palin's unreadiness?

Presidential campaigns aren't supposed to peak at the convention, let alone during the vice presidential nominee's speech, but you've just seen it happen with McCain. I just don't see firing up the know-nothing base overcoming the mood of the public for change and against the Republican agenda.

"...if Obama and Biden are smart, they'll come up with some other rhetorical phrase."

Which nobody in America will hear because David Axelrod will counsel a "dither and do nothing" communications strategy.

Sarah Palin, literally the only thing that is energizing the GOP base for McCain, is at the same time the most vulnerable VP choice in the last half-century. Yet the Obama campaign seems to think that offering soft, high-minded press releases is sufficient to reduce her attractiveness to the most critical portion of McCain's voting demographic. That there has not yet been a strong advertising-based strategy to destroy her faux credibility is testament to the Bob Shrum-like incompetence of Axelrod. He's the most grossly-overpaid consultant in the business.

Excellent. This should give OB, JB and a bunch of their surrogates the open-ended and unfettered time and ability to define her.

I would suggest something along the lines of a "we don't know her, but in reality we all do know her" two-pronged strategy. The first prong would be an appeal to all voters that they all know someone like her on the local level, the local pol who "knows it all" and thinks they can bully ordinary citizens and that the laws do not really apply to them as they are the law. Darn near every community has them, and she has performed enough acts in her past as both mayor and governor that touch upon issues close to ordinary americans and that should trouble ordinary americans (especially the firings and attempted firings of good, honest, law abiding citizens just trying to do their jobs).

The second prong would be to parallel her to our current President (the fiscal irresponsibility (esp at the municipal level); the earmark mclovin; the loyalty tests; the abuse of power to punish those who would not do her bidding (troopergate vis-a-vis DOJ firings); the improper use of confidential information (also trooper gate vis-a-vis Plame matter); the far right views and hypocritical stands; etc; etc; etc. Do we really want to trust another W wannabe with the keys to the White House for another 4 years?

Although she is not forthcoming, we all "know" her. She is the abusive local pol, and she is W.

Cagey strategy. Palin will come back to a buzz of excitement when there is a need to cover a major bone-head move by McCain, or when the polls turn against him again. She's the deus ex machina in waiting for the repugs.

Palin's ready to lead the country. She's just not ready to run for the job.

McCain don't share the spotlight with nobody. As hinted in his speech, McCain sees himself as THE Celebrity and ain't gonna share the spotlight with Eskimo Pie. Like a Highlander, THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!

Why do you think McCain hates Obama so much? Here he was, all poised to be the media darling and sweep into the White House, and along comes this young whippersnapper who draws all of the attention to himself instead of McCain. So now McCain actually has to campaign for the job that should have been his by rights!

As I've said before and I'll say again: McCain is Margo Channing. Obama is Eve Harrington.

I guess there should be a clock counting the number of days until the governor has a press conference where she answers questions.

Proselytizing is hard work! Expensive too.

Palin: 30 Fund-Raisers in 60 Days
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/09/04/palin-30-fund-raisers-in-60-days/

According to Wallace -- in an appearance I did with her this morning on Joe Scarborough's show -- the American people will learn all they need to know (and all they deserve to know) from Palin's scripted speeches and choreographed appearances on the campaign trail and in campaign ads.

Is she planning to rely on scripted speeches and choreographed appearances when she has to go head to head with Vladimir Putin or Hu Jintao?

It's time to start a clock recording the time Palin has not given an interview.

And start asking FOX News why it has no such clock.

.... she'd spent much of the time between now and the middle of next week (when her son leaves for Iraq) straightening her affairs..

haha!

Her husbands' business partners must be depressed.

Jeff Davis (@ 11:11) has it backwards. She's not ready to lead the country, but she's ready to run for the job.
That is if the job is assasinating doctors who perform abortions.

Sarah Palin, literally the only thing that is energizing the GOP base for McCain, is at the same time the most vulnerable VP choice in the last half-century.

But she's also energizing the Democratic base, to the tune of $10 million in donations to Obama after her speech to the Republicans' $1 million.

Why should the Obama campaign risk its narrative to go on the attack? Palin appeals only to rabid Republicans with her nasty attacks. Her same-old brand of Rovian attack politics will drives moderates right to the obama ticket, though.

This really isn't a vote of confidence in Palin's readiness.

True. But it is a wonderful mistake for them to make.

Right now Palin is the most polarizing new pol to come along in ages. The pitbull with lipstick was a conscious pose. She could just as easily have read the role of charmer off the cue cards. But the Goopers choose instead to alienate huge swathes of America.

Now, instead of immediately embarking on a charm-tour, they are hunkering down and allowing the polarization to sink deep and settle permanently. Good for them.

More film footage of hunting wolves from helicopters please. More detailed analysis of how she lied in trooper gate please. More exposure of her attempted banning of library books please. More quotes from her anti-jewish pastor please.

Pile on Palin.
She is an alienator and a polarizer.
That's the role the Goop's choose for her.
Help etch it in stone and drop it on top of her.

The most important presidential election in decades and the VP nominee has "other priorities."

On the heels of the most secretive vice-presidential term in the history of the nation. VP hopeful Palin is already demonstrating her contempt for accountability and learning to hide out in undisclosed locations to avoid testilying.

The more things change the more things McSame.

Palin's ready to lead the country. She's just not ready to run for the job.

What, precisely, is there about being governor of a state w/fewer residents than Northeast Philadelphia that makes Palin ready to lead the US?

-Z

Palin probably did the job she needed to do: she fired up the base, who will now contribute and volunteer more than before, and she got them lined up behind McCain. For uninformed and uninvolved voters, she made McCain look a bit progressive (putting a woman on the ticket, after all), and "change-y" (in a way that doesn't involve Depends). She also doesn't come across nearly as scary as she deserves on the basis of her policies and beliefs, and she probably benefits from assumptions that a good-looking woman with a nice smile wouldn't do anything "harsh" (the "Phryne defense" - look it up). So from here on in, probably the less she interacts with anyone other than adoring spectators, the better off the Republicans will be.

Palin probably did the job she needed to do: she fired up the base, who will now contribute and volunteer more than before, and she got them lined up behind McCain.

Ah... just how does this assertion jibe w/the fact that the Dems have raised more money since Church Lady's speech than the GOP has?

-Z

$200 Million donated to RNC because of this convention and Palin.

And once again, reality just smacked you down:

A Republican aide leaked us the news that the Republican National Committee ended the month of August with $75 million in the bank.

So unless you've got proof for your $200 million claim, we'll just chalk it up to your continuing role as "The Lying Sack of Shit at Washington Monthly."

I am not a fan at all but her going back to Alaska is really not a big deal to me. Maybe she is going to wrap some items up at her current job or maybe just spend a bit more time with her baby before this all heats up. She was not given that much of a notice after all.

I still will not be voting for her but making such a big deal over nothing does not help anyone.

The primary excuse for not appearing before the Alaska investigator for the TrooperGate probe is her lack of time and busy national schedule. Now she is back to Alaska for 2 weeks, and can't find 2 hours to be deposed?

I watched that exchange between Jay Carney and Nicole Wallace on MSNBC yesterday morning and I almost wanted to send her a thank you for anger-fueling my last 5 minutes on the treadmill.

Argue that it's dysfunctional but the free press is the main mechanism we have for delivering information to voters! If she was so arrogantly going to dismiss the idea that Palin needs to answer questions from the press then she had better offer up some sort of revolutionary town hall strategy in the same breath.

She is the beard, a decoy. She serves a useful (for Repulicans) purpose for now but they will dump her if troopergate gets to hot or she will withdraw for personal reasons, to be with family, etc. They'll blame it on the media and make her a martyr.

Bait and switch, plain and simple.

The fact that more than 40% of Americans think are supporting McCain/Palin scares the hell out of me.

Who are these people?

Have they been lobotomized?

An unelected VP who doesn't answer questions with no experience? And half of the country think that's great because she can read slams well?

WTF?

[That will be all from you, emmarose. I have been patient and waited until after the convention because you have been around for a long enough time to deserve that courtesy. But enough is enough and I have reached my limit. I will be deleting your posts until you get a grip. If you fail to get a grip, your IP will be banned. --Mod]

Sarah Palin has been in the public eye only one week and, according to today's Rasmussen Reports, she is already more popular than Obama.

So, even assuming that is true, doesn't that just mean that the McCain campaign should be mocking her with ads comparing her to Britney Spears. After all, you seem to be saying that she's surpassed Obama as the biggest celebrity...

Or has McCain flip-flopped on celebrity?

according to today's Rasmussen Reports, she is already more popular than Obama.

Dear lord ... wingnuts' inability to read or comprehend simple data, along with their willingness to pull lies directly out of their collective ass, is pathetic.

Please show us all some proof, since the only ting even coming close to what you claim doesn't say that at all -- 39% say she is more qualified, while 49% say Obama is.

So you're either a liar like orwell, or just too stupid to understand what you read.

Which is it?

Hiding Palin away from the media is a really strong tell that the Republicans are terrified she's going make some horrible zinger that's going to sink their ship. After McCain's speech last night, it's obvious it won't take much to doom the ticket.

The more they try to hide their weaknesses, they more they draw attention to them. If Palin isn't ready to camapaign, she sure as hell isn't ready to lead.

It doesn't matter how much of an idiot she is! Don't you get it? They figure that the country that put the king of all idiots in the White House isn't going to care if Palin can find D.C. on a map. They've reached the lowest common denominatrix. A serial lying fundamentalist freak who will say or do anything to win. You know the SCLM will never call her out on her complete lack of qualification. She and McCain are 10 times worse than Nixon, and worse yet, they might win. The only way the Democrats will prevail is by getting down in the mud with them. But they don't want to get themselves dirty...and consequently we're all doomed.

So she needs to study-up to get ready to be Vice President? And they think this will take somewhere between a week and two months? The barista at my neighborhood café trains longer!

And what exactly in Palin's academic record leads anyone to believe that she's a quick learner or a bookworm? I know she enjoys banning books, but reading them? Not so much.

If you watch "Law & Order: Criminal Intent", the fact that one of McCain's campaign staffers is named Nicole Wallace is very amusing.

Caribou Barbie isn't even remotely ready. I pray for the continued health of McCain. Heaven help us if this country is stupid enough to vote him in.

How long did it take Joe Biden to get up to speed to be Obama's running mate?

Oh, right, no time at all, because Joe is actually knowledgeable and qualified for the job.

That Palin won't answer questions on issues that affect all of us means she has FAILED her job interview. And that's what the campaign is, a job interview.

This whole Palin thing (and McCain too) is a joke, a sick joke, on the people of our country who are suffering from so much and demand solutions from real leaders!

Caribou Barbie isn't even remotely ready. I pray for the continued health of McCain. Heaven help us if this country is stupid enough to vote him in.

Again: look at '00 + '04. Even if the public doesn't vote in McSame, he could still wind up selected as President, w/Church Lady as his sidekick.

A mere electoral win for Obama won't do it. We need a historic landslide to put this election out of stealable range for the GOP.

-Z

It's the last week with her son. A week out of the campaign is no big deal (McCain is the candidate that matters), but a week could be a very big deal for a kid heading to Iraq.

Ya know, if we didn't know so much about her, I might buy that Gwen. But I just cant see that cold, hard bitch giving a damn about anyone or anything but herself - and that includes her husband and kids.

Watch the clip. Time's Jay Carney has totally rewritten what Nicole Wallace actually said (probably to soothe his hurt feelings). Is that typical of his "reporting?"

They have to hide her away for a time because she needs to be heavily schooled by the BUSH-ROVE squad before letting any unscripted question/answer session. Geez, it took a whole week for her to learn that speech. A speech where she played very fast & loose with the facts & even down right lied. As an Alaskan I am ashamed & scared that too many citizen of the lower 48 have fallen for who they think this woman is. "Mother, Moosehunter, Maverick"... try vindictive opportunist.